Constraining High-Energy Cosmic Neutrino Sources: Implications and Prospects

Abstract

We consider limits on the local ($z=0$) density ($n_0$) of extragalactic neutrino sources set by the nondetection of steady high-energy neutrino sources producing $\gtrsim 50$ TeV muon multiplets in the present IceCube data, taking into account the redshift evolution, luminosity function and neutrino spectrum of the sources. We show that the lower limit depends moderately on source spectra and strongly on redshift evolution. We find $n_0\gtrsim {10}^{-8}-{10}^{-7}{\mathrm{Mpc}}^{-3}$ for standard candle sources evolving rapidly, $n_s\propto {(1+z)}^3$, and $n_0\gtrsim {10}^{-6}-{10}^{-5}{\mathrm{Mpc}}^{-3}$ for nonevolving sources. The corresponding upper limits on their neutrino luminosity are $L_{{\nu }_{\mu }}^{\mathrm{eff}}\lesssim 10^{42}-10^{43}\mathrm{erg}{\mathrm{s}}^{-1}$ and $L_{{\nu }_{\mu }}^{\mathrm{eff}}\lesssim 10^{41}-10^{42}\mathrm{erg}{\mathrm{s}}^{-1}$, respectively. Applying these results to a wide range of classes of potential sources, we show that powerful blazar jets associated with active galactic nuclei are unlikely to be the dominant sources. For almost all other steady candidate source classes (including starbursts, radio galaxies, and galaxy clusters and groups), an order of magnitude increase in the detector sensitivity at $\sim 0.1-1$ PeV will enable a detection (as point sources) of the few brightest objects. Such an increase, which may be provided by next-generation detectors like IceCube-Gen2 and an upgraded KM3NET, can improve the limit on $n_0$ by more than two orders of magnitude. Future gamma-ray observations (by Fermi, HAWC and CTA) will play a key role in confirming the association of the neutrinos with their sources.

14 pages, 7 figures, 1 table, accepted for publication in PRD, minor changes (references and discussions added)

References in corpus (24)

• The spectrum of isotropic diffuse gamma-ray emission between 100 MeV and 820 GeV
• Toward the Standard Population Synthesis Model of the X-Ray Background: Evolution of X-Ray Luminosity and Absorption Functions of Active Galactic Nuclei Including Compton-Thick Populations
• Atmospheric and Astrophysical Neutrinos above 1 TeV Interacting in IceCube
• Star-forming galaxies as the origin of diffuse high-energy backgrounds: Gamma-ray and neutrino connections, and implications for starburst history
• Measurement of the atmospheric neutrino energy spectrum from 100 GeV to 400 TeV with IceCube
• Photohadronic origin of $\gamma$-ray BL Lac emission: implications for IceCube neutrinos
• A unified picture for low-luminosity and long gamma-ray bursts based on the extended progenitor of llgrb 060218/SN 2006aj
• Are both BL Lacs and pulsar wind nebulae the astrophysical counterparts of IceCube neutrino events?
• Pinpointing Extragalactic Neutrino Sources in Light of Recent IceCube Observations
• Measurement of the Atmospheric ${\nu }_e$ flux in IceCube
• Structured jets in BL Lac objects: efficient PeV neutrino factories?
• Joint anisotropy and source count constraints on the contribution of blazars to the diffuse gamma-ray background
• Gamma-Ray and Neutrino Backgrounds as Probes of the High-Energy Universe: Hints of Cascades, General Constraints, and Implications for TeV Searches
• High-energy neutrinos from radio galaxies
• High-energy gamma-ray and neutrino backgrounds from clusters of galaxies and radio constraints
• What IceCube data tell us about neutrino emission from star-forming galaxies (so far)
• Discovery of GeV emission from the direction of the luminous infrared galaxy NGC 2146
• Searches for small-scale anisotropies from neutrino point sources with three years of IceCube data
• High-energy neutrinos from sources in clusters of galaxies
• Galaxy Clusters as Reservoirs of Heavy Dark Matter and High-Energy Cosmic Rays: Constraints from Neutrino Observations
• Proton and Neutrino Extragalactic Astronomy
• Hadronic origin of multi-TeV gamma rays and neutrinos from low-luminosity active galactic nuclei: implications of past activities of the Galactic center
• Constraints on the Local Sources of Ultra High-Energy Cosmic Rays
• Ultra-high Energy Cosmic Rays and Neutrinos from Gamma-Ray Bursts, Hypernovae and Galactic Shocks

Cited by in corpus (31)

• High-Energy Neutrino Flares From X-Ray Bright and Dark Tidal Disruptions Events
• A Neutral Beam Model for High-Energy Neutrino Emission from the Blazar TXS 0506+056
• Point-source and diffuse high-energy neutrino emission from Type IIn supernovae
• A two-zone blazar radiation model for "orphan" neutrino flares
• Disentangling the Hadronic Components in NGC 1068
• Constraining high-energy neutrino emission from choked jets in stripped-envelope supernovae
• Dark Matter interpretation of low energy IceCube MESE excess
• Identifying Ultrahigh-Energy Cosmic-Ray Accelerators with Future Ultrahigh-Energy Neutrino Detectors
• Could nearby star-forming galaxies light up the point-like neutrino sky?
• Revealing the Production Mechanism of High-Energy Neutrinos from NGC 1068
• High-Energy Neutrino Emission from White Dwarf Mergers
• Neutrino telescopes and high-energy cosmic neutrinos
• Detection prospects for high energy neutrino sources from the anisotropic matter distribution in the local universe
• Particle Acceleration in Mildly Relativistic Outflows of Fast Energetic Transient Sources
• Ultra high energy cosmic rays from non-relativistic quasar outflows
• On the Challenges of Cosmic-Ray Proton Shock Acceleration in the Intracluster Medium
• Search for GeV and X-ray flares associated with the IceCube track-like neutrinos
• Star-forming galaxies as the origin of IceCube neutrinos: Reconciliation with Fermi-LAT gamma rays
• On the radiation energy density in the jet of high-energy emitting BL Lac objects and its impact on their multi-messenger role
• Searching for a Galactic component in the IceCube track-like neutrino events
• Neutrino Astronomy 2017
• Multi-Messenger Connections among High-Energy Cosmic Particles
• TeV Gamma-Rays from the Low-Luminosity Active Galactic Nucleus NGC 4278: Implications for the Diffuse Neutrino Background
• Constraining the $\gamma$-ray Emission Region for Fermi-Detected FSRQs by the Seed Photon Approach
• Trinity: An Air-Shower Imaging Instrument to detect Ultrahigh Energy Neutrinos
• Little Red Dots as Hidden Neutrino Sources
• Particle Astrophysics with High and Ultrahigh Energy Neutrinos
• A test of the hadronic origin of $\gamma$-rays from blazars with up to month-later follow-up of IceCube Alerts with Imaging Air Cherenkov Telescopes
• Solving the multi-messenger puzzle of the AGN-starburst composite galaxy NGC 1068
• Diffuse continuum emission and large extended sources at MeV energies
• Aspects of astrophysical particle production and beyond the Standard Model phenomenology